Yoko Fujiwara started her Ashtanga yoga practice in 2003 while in the IT
industry in her hometown of Tokyo, Japan. She has been teaching
Ashtanga yoga since 2006 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her ongoing daily study
is with Cathy Louise Broda. Yoko underwent a sixteen-month
Mysore apprenticeship as well as a nine-month pregnancy yoga
apprenticeship with Cathy Louise. Yoko has gone through many life
changes since she started practicing yoga, and she is continuing
to develop an understanding of who she really is. Yoko affirms that
her practice has evolved primarily due to the process of deep self-reflection
and actively changing patterns rooted in fear, anger and
insecurity.

Her first trip to Mysore was in 2008. She spent three months practicing with R. Sharath Jois and Saraswathi Rangaswamy. During that time, she also studied Sanskrit and Yoga Sutra chanting
under Dr. M. A. Jayashree. Yoko's practice extends to annual visits
to Maui to see Manju Jois and Nancy Gilgoff. She also practices
with Tarik Thami on her home visits to Tokyo.

Yoko is also a Shiatsu
therapist. This training, along with her Ashtanga practice and teaching, allows her to see how the energetic body moves within the physical body.